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Obamacare repeal/replace (or 2.0, or Obamacare "lite")


Carrie Mathison
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Like I said before, it's going to be difficult to stabilize the market in September. Especially since Trump keeps saying that he wants to see the whole thing collapse. Sure, that may be hyperbole on his part, but it may not be. And the closer we get to open enrollment, the more the Republicans are going to own the problem. For 7 years they've been claiming that they could fix things, and instead they not only didn't fix it, they made it worse.

 

They're going to try to lay it on the Democrats, and that'll work for a portion of the base, but that doesn't matter too much. The question is, what happens to the people who aren't going to vote Republican no matter what? Do the independent voters blame Democrats or do they look and see that the Republicans had a chance to do something and failed?

 

Right now, I don't expect any fixes to come from the Feds. If people living in counties without insurers manage to get insurance, it will be the result of hard work done by governors and state departments of insurance.

 

I could be wrong and be pleasantly surprised. I hope I am. But based on what I see right now, I'm pretty pessimistic.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

Yeah it is terrible for a sitting president to say he wants to see an entire industry collapse. Especially healthcare. It is on par with praying for war. Irresponsible, and quite frankly, psychotic.

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To be fair, I don't know that he really means it, or that he has a clue what it means. Here's been successful in real estate, and other areas as well, but anything involving any type of insurance is pretty far outside of his sphere of knowledge.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

That's part of the problem, though. No one can tell when he is serious, or when he is having a twitter tantrum. Therefore, no one takes him seriously. And really in the realm of government, and governing, I think it's pretty clear Trump is in over his head, and it's not as easy as he assumed, after all.

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"Well the problem is that if you put something out there that's not financially sustainable and eventually have to take it away as a result you're gonna piss off a lot of people.'

 

 

 

 

Medicare and Social Security aren't financially sustainable, either. Let's 86 those, too, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Well MG, I dunno that the current system actually causes any outright deaths... I mean, it's not like people are literally dying out in the streets like during the Spanish Flu or the Black Plague or something.

 

The problem is more that people get their care via the emergency room since it's the only time they can't be turned away for not having insurance, and then they get heavily in debt with bills they never are gonna be able to pay. Ultimately then, they file for bankruptcy. I can't remember the actual percentage number, but the amount of bankruptcies that are related to medical bills is pretty substantial, might even be a majority.

 

So, I mean, calling it a literal life or death issue is a bit melodramatic, it's more of an economic efficiency issue. Right now the current system generates a ton of private debt that wouldn't otherwise exist, a lot of economic inefficiency (right now there are way more nurses, PAs, assistants, hospital staff, hospitals, etc., than would otherwise be economically viable), a growing and very concerning amount of public spending (that is unlikely to ever shrink), and pretty much everyone across the board loses, except for big pharma, insurers, and health care investors.

I mean those 30 million or so who didn't have insurance before the ACA and may be in some sort of critical position right now. You're right-it's not Bubonic Plague-level death-in-the-streets, but what of someone on Chemo and say, high-cost drug treatment right now? The ACA gets dropped with no replacement...can that person just go to the ER for treatment?

 

It may just be a dozen or so deaths but isn't that reprehensible enough?

 

AND I realize the GOP didn't make our healthcare dependent upon companies who need to make a profit, but the ball IS in their court and they had eight YEARS to come up with a plan.

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They had a plan. It was too kick the can down the line and try to make it implode during a Clinton presidency. Instead, they were shocked when Trump beat a weak field for the nomination and then managed to beat an uninspired Clinton who mostly campaigned "Can you believe this guy?"

 

The Republicans were caught with their pants down, lubing up to screw the Democrats.

 

Beyond that, the plan was never for them to repeal or replace. They don't have a healthcare plan, because their plan was stolen. Sure, there are some things that they don't like, but honestly a bunch of policies already provided for free birth control and a free physical once a year. At least policies active in Ohio. (Source: experience managing a pharmacy).

 

Meanwhile, John Kasich and his administration handed the Republicans a huge victory in reducing the number of counties in Ohio without insurers for next year from 20 down to 1.

 

Sherrod Browb is up for reelection next year, so the Republicans really needed a win in the state to energize voters, especially the rural voters who were about to lose their insurance.

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MG... basically, what Brando said. I was going to type out a response, but he said almost exactly what I was going to.

 

Also, don't make the mistake of thinking I believe the GOP's approach over the last 6 months was either good politics or policy. As my (way too) long posts on the last couple pages should have indicated, my disapproval is quite high right now.

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